The Family Dynamic

What a day I had yesterday. To begin with, Mrs Bob had an old friend (who I didn’t know at all) coming over to see her for a ‘girly’ catch-up session. This meant that I had a massive panic on first thing in the morning, mainly consisting of trying to make sure the house was immaculately clean and organised. Mrs Bob runs a very tight ship in this respect, but I’m ex military so it can get a little silly and over the top. With all the housework sorted we could finally sit down and one of us could relax. About an hour before I had to leave for work, the wife’s friend wasn’t here yet and sod’s law … I started to get hungry!

This would normally not be an issue, but now I had a dilemma to contend with. Do I go to work for seven hours without eating, or do I do myself something to eat and run the risk of being caught eating when her friend arrived? I’m sure I’ve explained this before, but if I haven’t or you’re new here, as an Aspie I have a great deal of difficulty eating with or in front of people I don’t know or I’m not comfortable around. I decided that the gains outweighed the risks and, well, wouldn’t you know it, Mrs Bob’s friend turned up while I was eating. I tried to do the small talk thing with her and Mrs Bob but despite my years of practice I was rapidly out of my depth and trying desperately to tread water. I could feel that perhaps I was doing something wrong, but couldn’t figure out what it was or how to correct the situation. So I did the best thing I could possibly do (short of sitting in the cupboard under the stairs), I went to work.